Incredibly aromatic, ridiculously succulent, ineffably delicious. This dish left my and my customers (AKA husband and son) wanting MORE. My only regret was that I did not make a bigger batch. You will want TONS of garlic with this dish because once served, the garlic is roasted, smooth and buttery, and adds the subtlety of an allium crop without a steely taste. I give myself 5 out of 5 stars for this one. Haha!
INGREDIENTS:
2 TBS olive oil
1 TBS butter
10-12 cloves garlic, peeled
salt and pepper
4-5 pieces of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, and fresh parsley (dried is fine if that's all that is available)
3/4 tsp cornstarch
1/3 c chicken broth
juice of 1 lemon
green beans *optional (for veggie siding and plating--just needs simple sautéing)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Take a large oven-proof skillet (I used a cast-iron pan) and heat up the olive oil and butter over medium heat.
While waiting for that, take your herbs and mince them. Rosemary is even lovelier when you mash them around in a mortar and pestle because its natural oils come out and your dish gets blessed with an herbaceous fragrance and flavour. If you're using dried herbs, then mortar and pestle is your best bet for making the flavours pop. I ALWAYS bash my rosemary in with the M&P.
Now, remember that skillet we're preheating? Add the peeled garlic cloves. Cook them for about 4 minutes, stirring every now and then to make sure they get slightly browned on all sides. Once cooked, transfer them to a small plate leaving the oil in the skillet.
Take your chicken thighs and make sure you dab them dry on the skin side. Season generously on both sides with salt and pepper (you'll be surprised how this stage of seasoning is so underrated but is quite essential in helping really bring out those flavours of the chicken).
Turn the heat up to medium-high and place the chicken thighs skin-side down. This is going to cause quite an oily splatter, so if you have a splatter screen this would be the optimal time to bust it out of storage. I just used tin foil. Cook the chicken until it's browned and somewhat crisped on the skin side; this should take about 5-7 minutes. Be sure to sprinkle some of the herbs on the thighs so before flipping them over.
Now flip the chicken thighs with the skin side up and sprinkle about a teaspoon as well of your rosemary, thyme, and parsley blend all over the skin and fillets. Take your garlic cloves and scatter them all around the chicken thighs and put the skillet into the oven for 25 minutes or until the chicken registers 165F in the middle. That way you'll know it's cooked through. While that roasts, proceed to the next step.
In a small bowl, whisk together your chicken broth and cornstarch. Once you've cooked the chicken, place the skillet back on the stove, transfer the chicken to another plate to rest before serving. Add the broth and cornstarch to the chicken drippings left in the pan and simmer over medium heat. Keep whisking it and cook for about a minute then remove from heat and add the lemon juice. Stir well and get ready to plate.
Take each of your serving plate and pour some of the sauce on it. Plate the green beans in the middle and top the green beans with a chicken fillet. Place some garlic cloves around, sprinkle with parsley and serve.
